Our Top Ten Idea for Assessing Independent Reading in the Classroom:
1.Allow students to creatively think of their own way to represent their novel. Students write up a proposal and then ask the teacher for approval. Projects are due at the end of the quarter. 2.Have students create a board game that represents their project. They can develop trivia questions, pieces, and other elements of the game that can relate to the novel. At the end of the semester, all students who also read that novel can play the game and compete. 3.Have students keep a list of controversial issues that their novel presents and spend a class period discussing and debating these issues. 4.Have students write poetry that could accompany their novel. 5.Students can create illustrations for their novel and argue where, if published, the pictures would be placed in the book. 6.Students can keep a list of challenging vocabulary words they learned as they read the novel. Students can create their own test and the teacher can administer it during class. 7.Students can keep an ongoing chart that describes four major categories of literary analysis: plot, characters, theme, and setting. 8.Students can create a comic strip version of their novel, or if this is too labor intensive, choose a chapter to portray instead. 9.Students can sew a costume that might appear in the novel. 10.If the novel depicts a culture different from the student’s, the student can research typical cultural food dishes and even cook for the class.
Activities to motivate readers:
http://www.cfisd.net/dept2/curricu/ellang/Independent%20Reading.pdf
http://primary-school-curriculum.suite101.com/article.cfm/independent_reading
http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr038.shtml
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/15218
Our Top Ten Idea for Assessing Independent Reading in the Classroom:
1. Allow students to creatively think of their own way to represent their novel. Students write up a proposal and then ask the teacher for approval. Projects are due at the end of the quarter.
2. Have students create a board game that represents their project. They can develop trivia questions, pieces, and other elements of the game that can relate to the novel. At the end of the semester, all students who also read that novel can play the game and compete.
3. Have students keep a list of controversial issues that their novel presents and spend a class period discussing and debating these issues.
4. Have students write poetry that could accompany their novel.
5. Students can create illustrations for their novel and argue where, if published, the pictures would be placed in the book.
6. Students can keep a list of challenging vocabulary words they learned as they read the novel. Students can create their own test and the teacher can administer it during class.
7. Students can keep an ongoing chart that describes four major categories of literary analysis: plot, characters, theme, and setting.
8. Students can create a comic strip version of their novel, or if this is too labor intensive, choose a chapter to portray instead.
9. Students can sew a costume that might appear in the novel.
10. If the novel depicts a culture different from the student’s, the student can research typical cultural food dishes and even cook for the class.
- Themes
- Questions to help
discuss the textWebsites to help:
http://www.rif.org/parents/tips/default.mspx
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/15218
http://lifestyle.msn.com/your-life/just-dreaming/article.aspx?cp-documentid=8415513 -
http://kkborg.wordpress.com/2007/12/18/ten-great-books-for-men/: This is a list of 10 books with detailed descriptions of the books.
http://www.stmalib.org/kpdfs/9-12th%20grade%20BOYSReading%20List.pdf
http://teenspace.cincinnatilibrary.org/books/booklist.asp?id=teenguys
http://www.marshalldistrictlibrary.org/teens/documents/MicrosoftWord-guyreads.pdf
http://www.co.washington.mn.us/info_for_residents/library/teen_topics/books_for_guys/